For the first time in more than 50 years of surveys, the CDC on Wednesday reported that more than 90% of Americans — 90.8% of us, to be specific — have health insurance. Until now, no major survey had ever found that the uninsured rate in America has hit single digits. The data comes from the National Health Interview Survey, which the CDC and the Census Bureau have been conducting for more than 50 years.

Nearly 16 million fewer Americans were uninsured in early 2015 compared to 2013. And based on past precedent, there’s every expectation that the uninsured rate will continue to go down as enrollment in the ACA exchanges and Medicaid keeps going up. Having more insured customers is good for the health care industry, too. Hospitals are reporting huge jobs gains, and the health care sector is reporting its best 12-month stretch of new jobs in almost 25 years.

Did you know that the Affordable Care Act may be the single most important anti-smoking initiative in the country?

Of course not. That’s because Obamacare’s supposed friends, the Democrats, have been too craven to talk about its benefits, while its enemies, the Republicans, want only to depict it as a “disaster” without addressing its many provisions.

“If the ACA’s tobacco-cessation provisions are fully implemented, they could turn out to be one of its greatest legacies.”

– Tim McAfee, et al, New England Journal of Medicine

But the New England Journal of Medicine in its latest issue sets the record straight. The authors, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Wisconsin, point out that the poor uptake of smoking cessation programs has much to do with their expense and the only spotty coverage by health insurance plans. They say ACA makes this coverage mandatory, without co-pays, cost sharing, or the requirement that doctors get prior authorization from insurers before prescribing. (See accompanying graphic.)

The anti-smoking initiative is just one of many provisions of the ACA that are little-known but likely to have a significant impact on Americans’ health. That underscores the fatuousness of much of the anti-Obamacare campaign. When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expresses glee at the prospect that the Supreme Court may yet “take down” the law because he doesn’t like anything that has President Obama’s name on it, these are the babies he’s willing to throw out with the bathwater.

Under the ACA, the NEJM authors write, smoking cessation must be treated as one of the preventive services that private health plans are required to cover without cost-sharing or prior authorization.

THIS INFURIATES ME!! Not this wonderful provision, but the glee at which people like McConnell and other Republicans hope that this signature and historic achievement for the American people, gets gutted! FOLLOW THE FUCKING MONEY….these RWNJ’s care nothing about people. they never did. Never will. They care about money and access and greed…and sucking every last breath from ordinary people just so they can have even MORE! Because to them, this is a win/lose game. If you win, THEY LOSE…and we can’t have that now, can we? Rather than we all want the best for ALL Americans, they don’t subscribe to this. Not even close.

Why do I say this? What the blue fucking blazes set ME off?? I was a smoker. I smoked for 38 years of my life and i loved it and hated it. I was killing myself slowly and I felt guilty as sin for forking over more and more murder money for the tobacco company every time I wanted to feed my addiction. I knew it was bad..I wanted to stop but I was so afraid…thinking of how hard it would be…or gaining some weight…or, or, or…the days went to weeks, weeks to months, months to years and I somehow excused myself. I was a “polite” smoker. Never in my car. Never in the house, Never around those that didn’t smoke. There were never ashtrays all over the place, overflowing with the cancerous remains….I was a one ashtray girl and cleaned up after myself. In fact, I got so good at this deceit, that most people had no idea I smoked at all. But I knew. I was ashamed and embarrassed to be so beholden to this toxic mess. Did you know that these tobacco companies but in things like oven cleaner, DDT and a shit ton of awful, awful stuff. (Cigarette Ingredients)

But look here ( from this piece)

The CDC estimates that about 42 million Americans, or 18% of all adults, are smokers. The highest rate belongs, as it happens, to McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, at 28.3%.

The ACA takes special aim at the Medicaid population. That’s wise, because smoking in the U.S. is especially prevalent among lower-income groups. The law makes no-fee smoking cessation programs and medications a part of Medicaid for new enrollees in those states that have accepted Medicaid expansion, prohibits states from excluding smoking medications from traditional Medicaid, and requires smoking cessation coverage for pregnant women in traditional Medicaid. That’s key, because 20% of pregnant women on Medicaid use tobacco, according to a 2012 study by researchers from UC Berkeley and UC San Diego.

Mitch McConnell would be SO FINE with the people of KY continuing to kill themselves! Continuing to give the tobacco companies money they really don’t have to spend….THIS is what makes me livid!

I have to tell you what made me stop. My son. My son and the perfect storm of his pleading and my readiness to take responsibility for my health and no longer making excuses. I need to tell you something else. It wasn’t hard. After 38 years…it wasn’t hard. I chose to vape my way off nicotine for good and I literally weaned myself off nicotine in about 3 months. None of the side effects that we all worry about…just relief and me being proud of myself and feeling better than anyone can imagine.

So when I see just how far these people (I use that term loosely) would go to have this all go away, AND BE HAPPY ABOUT IT! I want to scream.

America needs to Wake Up…those that feel “guilty” for voting for Republicans because they ” always have”…need to take a cold shower, admit they fucked up badly, and vow to be smarter and more aware in 2 more years. This is UNSAT. Unsatisfactory. Unacceptable. Unfuckingbelieveable that people could ever take pleasure in other people’s pain or want to keep them doing the very things that hurt them and not let them be better or flourish for the rest of their good long lives.

THIS is what pissed me off tonight. That these people hate this President and the American people SO MUCH, they would hope for the demise of something that would help people stop smoking.

If this doesn’t anger you into stopping, into thinking, into honest evaluation of so many things….I don’t know what will. This says they care NOTHING about you.

Remember when Obamacare was a terrible deal for young adults, and how “young invincibles” didn’t even want health insurance? Conservative groups — acting, no doubt, out of deep concern for the well-being of the nation’s 20-somethings — even staged events where young people burned their “Obamacare cards” (there is no such thing). Instead, this is what happened:

Not so scary, after all. That’s right: The share of the population between 19 and 25 years old without health insurance has fallen since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010. That year, the uninsured rate for that group was more than 30 percent. By the end of this March, it had fallen to 21 percent, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey data presented in a report the White House Council of Economic Advisors released Wednesday. In fact, the uninsured rate fell more for young adults than any other age group from the end of 2013 to the close of the first quarter of this year, the CDC survey found. And that doesn’t even account for a surge in Obamacare enrollments at the end of March and early April, especially among younger people, for insurance coverage that didn’t kick in until April or May. Turns out, people under 30 also think having health insurance is a good idea.

Federal health authorities on Tuesday reported a stunning 43 percent drop in the obesity rate among 2- to 5-year-old children over the past decade, the first broad decline in an epidemic that often leads to lifelong struggles with weight and higher risks for cancer, heart disease and stroke. The drop emerged from a major federal health survey that experts say is the gold standard for evidence on what Americans weigh. The trend came as a welcome surprise to researchers. New evidence has shown that obesity takes hold young: Children who are overweight or obese between age 3 and 5 are five times as likely to be overweight or obese as adults.

“This is the first time we’ve seen any indication of any significant decrease in any group,” said Cynthia Ogden, a researcher for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the author of the report, which will be published in JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, on Wednesday. “It was exciting.” Another explanation is that some combination of state, local and federal policies aimed at reducing obesity is starting to have an effect. Michelle Obama has led a push to change young children’s eating and exercise habits and 10,000 child care centers across the country have signed on. The news announcement from the C.D.C. included a remark from Mrs. Obama: “I am thrilled at the progress we’ve made over the last few years in obesity rates among our youngest Americans.”

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, introduces JoAnne Hammermaster, from Vienna, Va., who is co-founder and president of Real Food For Kids, and her son Sam Hammermaster, before First Lady Michelle Obama announced proposed guidelines for local school wellness policies

First Lady Michelle Obama recites a “wrap” song written by students from George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church, Va., about healthy eating

****

First Lady Michelle Obama helps Naeem Khan make history!

This handout photo provided by the Smithsonian shows a dress designed by Indian-American designer Naeem Khan for First Lady Michelle Obama. It was worn to the 2012 Governors Dinner and is now on display at the Smithsonian’s first major exhibit: “Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation” on Indian-American influences in U.S. history. Khan has designed several dresses for Mrs. Obama. The exhibit opens Thursday.